P'ART OF ME

"<< Background >>We have applied for this project due to high needs of the local youth and Ukrainian refugees in Estonia and Latvia. Our goals were to integrate these young people into community life, foster cross-cultural understanding, and encourage active participation. Project aimed to create safe space for self-expression through arts, theater, and story telling to help youths regardless of their origins or backgrounds to relate and feel embraced and connected. By promoting mutual understanding and community participation, the project was applied to build stronger, more inclusive communities. Additionally, it focused on documenting and sharing stories, encouraging artistic initiatives, and facilitating the involvement of Ukrainian refugees in community activities.Our project addressed the urgent need to engage local youth and Ukrainian refugees in community life, helping them build connections and increase their sense of belonging and active participation. It empowered local and Ukrainian youth towards active involvement in community life, enriching their self-development and promoting civic duties. << Objectives >>By implementing this project, we aimed to achieve several key objectives:Engage Local Youth and Ukrainian Refugees into the life of the community and ensure their successful integration, which will contribute to their more active participation in the life of the society.Improve innovative Problem-Solving on current challenges. Cross-Cultural Understanding: Bring together youth of different cities in Estonia and Latvia and foster easy integration boosting social harmony among them.Mutual Understanding and Community Participation: Promote the understanding of the different communities by young people and increase youth participation through the arts, theater and storytelling. Support for Ukrainian Refugees: Ensure the refugees from Ukraine get to interact with the society.Share Good Practices and Strengthen Transnational Cooperation: Reporting on the existing assessments and best practices in the framework of communication at the European level and the development of cooperation.In the end, we strived to create a collective consciousness, extend community cohesiveness and establish a friendly climate for youth and young refugees to to attain their social goals, and become responsible members of the society.<< Implementation >>1. Small Community Events in Estonia and Latvia:We organized local community events in six different cities across Estonia and Latvia. These events were concerned with interactions with young people, young Ukrainian refugees, youth organizations etc. 2. Community Festival in Narva, Estonia:We implemented a community event in Narva, Estonia where the participants came from different cities of Latvia and Estonia. This event marked the end of the community events aimed at increasing intercultural communication and interaction among the participants.3. Creating the Magazine ""P'ART OF ME"":Lastly, we produced a youth magazine named “P’ART OF ME.” This magazine was developed from the materials and content collected during the project. On the base of the interview we did we wrote articles and combined them in our magazine. 4.Creating the toolbox:We created a separate toolbox, Art and Theatre-Based Techniques for Youth Peer Education, where we combined all core activities we used during the project. << Results >>We successfully organized local community events across Latvia and Estonia creating opportunities for young people, young Ukrainian refugees, and youth organizations to interact with one another; We also successfully implemented the final and concluding event, community festival, in Narva that brought together participants from various towns in Estonia and Latvia thereby enhancing inter-cultural communication among the participants and strengthening bonds between local youth and young refugees. We produced a youth magazine named “P’ART OF ME” which combines articles based on interviews collated during the project that documents experiences of participants, their stories as well as creative works. Furthermore, we designed a comprehensive toolkit entitled “Art and Theatre-Based Techniques for Youth Peer Education” with all core activities or methods used throughout the project making it an invaluable material for future initiatives. As a result of these endeavors, there has been increased engagement by local youth and Ukrainian refugees into community life leading to improved cross cultural understanding and social integration; stronger connections between local communities have been made with young refugees."